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Will PRP Help Rosacea?

PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma. Every patient potentially makes their own platelet-rich plasma because his or her blood is used for the procedure.

A blood draw is taken and spun down to concentrate the platelets in the blood. According to one of the top stem cell treatment researchers, most PRP preparations are three to five times as concentrated as the normal blood platelet concentration.

PRP is full of growth factors that cause stem cells to grow rapidly. These growth factors include IGF, VEGF, TGF-beta, PDGF-bb and a lot more. The purpose of these growth factors is to make the body’s own stem cells work harder and faster.

PRP is full of growth factors that cause stem cells to grow rapidly. These growth factors include IGF, VEGF, TGF-beta, PDGF-bb and a lot more. The purpose of these growth factors is to make the body’s own stem cells work harder and faster.

PRP has been used for almost a few decades now in dentistry to help dental implants heal, in orthopedics to heal tendons or bones that have been fractured, and in plastic surgery/cosmetic surgery. You can read more about PRP here.

However, the question remains … will PRP help improve acne rosacea?

Stem Cell Deficiency May Cause Lack of Success with PRP

Before this question is answered, you should know that there is a correlation between rosacea and a stem cell deficiency. Doctors at the Associated Eye Care Clinic in Minnesota reviewed all their records from a 9-year period to find out who had a stem cell deficiency and who didn’t.

They found that patients who had the deficiency had been receiving topical medications and rosacea or some other external eye disease such as herpes of the eye, pink eye, edema of the cornea or other eye diseases. They all had also received eye surgery, usually for cataracts. One of the consequences was scarring of the cornea.

Now the doctors who submitted the study to the medical journal concluded that surgical trauma to the limbal stem cells probably made these stem cells more prone to external disease influences and toxicity after long-term topical medications.

The reason why this is brought up here is because this study sheds light on why stem cell treatments or PRP may work or not work in those with rosacea. According to the doctors of this study, there’s a stem cell deficiency in one area of the eye that then spread centrally to the rest of the body, which was seen in rosacea patients.

Thus, if someone with rosacea is getting PRP, which is void of stem cells, the treatment may not work. This patient may need actual stem cells, not just the growth factors that are found in PRP.

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Acne Scars are Common with Acne Rosacea Patients

People with all forms of acne have scars to deal with from the acne. With rosacea, it’s double trouble because there may also be redness that draws attention to the skin condition. Several medical studies have been done on the topic of PRP that have looked at the result of PRP on acne scars.

In the first Chinese study, doctors concluded that PRP is an ideal treatment for facial acne scars with minimal side effects when combined with regeneration technology. Unfortunately we don’t know what regeneration technology techniques that the researchers are referring to, but can assume it was most likely some of the different laser techniques that resurface the skin.

The treatment was effective for 91% of the 25 patients and the side effects were minimal. There was no problem with hyperpigmentation, depigmentation or worsening of the acne scars over a six-month period of time. PRP with the regeneration technology was well tolerated and safe and effective.

PRP Used With Laser Enhanced Recovery of the Skin

In another study done in China, plastic surgeons tested the effects of PRP combined with erbium fractional laser therapy for facial acne or acne scars. Although the doctors don’t report on the type of acne the patients had, they did say that six of the 22 patients had both acne scars plus acne. The doctors collected each patient’s whole blood for the PRP sample and applied the PRP to the face of the patient after the laser treatment. Three treatments were given.

Ninety-one percent of the patients showed an improvement of greater than 50% and there was no acne inflammation after the treatment. The two treatments together were an effective and safe approach for treating acne scars or acne according to the researchers. The PRP also enhanced the recovery of laser-damaged skin.

In a study performed in Egypt, patients with acne scars were given intradermal injections of PRP or skin needling/trichloroacetic acid treatments along with the PRP. Each patient had three treatments. No matter what the treatment was, there was much improvement in the patient’s skin condition.

Korean scientists wanted to see if they could increase their clinical success results with acne patients by combining PRP with fractional CO2 laser treatments. They were looking for more of a resurfaced look from the acne scars. The patients received only two treatments with the laser followed by PRP. They found that PRP increased the number of fibrogenetic molecules that contributed to better results.

Even though only one of these studies looked at PRP by itself for acne, the other studies have given us a good look at what is possible when PRP is combined with other currently used treatments for acne.

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